Background

CompuCom, a managed services provider and wholly owned subsidiary of the ODP Corporation (NASDAQ:ODP), enables the digital workplace by providing end-to-end managed workplace services, infrastructure modernization and digital consulting for enterprise and SMB customers. 

Today, as buyers increasingly rely on industry analysts to guide their IT product and service purchase decisions, it has become very important for CompuCom to expand its engagement with analysts — to keep them abreast of and up-to-date on its offerings. Through its analyst relations (AR) program, CompuCom builds positive brand awareness with analysts to ensure they remain apprised of the company’s value proposition and customer success stories.

Challenge

When Arthur Bailey joined CompuCom as Senior Director of External Communications, he was tasked with reinvigorating the company’s public relations (PR) and analyst relations (AR) programs. Initially working as a one-man shop for all external outreach, he had a lot on his plate.

Not only was Arthur tasked with rebuilding CompuCom’s brand with the analyst community, he also had to reconstruct the AR program and its strategic investments from scratch — diversifying the company from investing in only one major analyst firm to strategically engaging more firms that influence customers’ managed workplace services buying decisions. To quickly deliver on his key KPIs, he needed to find a partner to assist with managing the more tactical aspects of his AR program — such as building analyst outreach lists, tracking upcoming research, monitoring for coverage and reporting on results — while he focused on planning and executing more strategic corporate marketing initiatives.

“There are only so many hours in the day,” Arthur said. “I needed to look at: ‘Where do I bring strategic value?’ For me, it’s not necessarily in creating an analyst list or producing a coverage report. It’s in analyzing those reports, synthesizing the information and then developing action plans. So I had to ask myself, ‘What can I outsource?’”

Solution

Arthur, who’d previously led analyst relations programs at Samsung Electronics, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Microsoft, turned to ARInsights. “The SaaS-based tools and services that ARInsights provides are a must-have for any AR leader needing to maximize the value and economic return of their AR investments,” Arthur said. “I’ve found ARInsights provides a compelling price-to-value service for managing everyday AR activities.”

CompuCom takes advantage of ARInsights’ ARchitect platform for managing, tracking and reporting on analyst interactions — along with its complementary ServicePlus AR support package, to aid in AR activities and deliver comprehensive visibility into the company’s analyst program results. 

Through ARInsights, CompuCom has specialized help to:

  • Identify relevant analysts who CompuCom should keep informed.
  • Stay abreast of analyst changes at research firms.
  • Manage lists of target analysts and put analysts into relevant groups (based on research coverage areas).
  • Track research coverage, as well as future research calendars.
  • Monitor analysts who are mentioning CompuCom in research, blogs, media articles and social posts.
  • Produce bi-weekly and quarterly business review (QBR) reports to keep executives aware of and engaged in the company’s analyst interactions (by firm, business area, etc.), coverage and “share of voice.”

In addition to providing tools and services for internal AR program management, ARInsights also provides the platform for CompuCom’s invitation-only Analyst Portal, enabling CompuCom to virtually engage with analysts all over the globe. The portal serves as a one-stop-shop for curated CompuCom content, such as recorded briefings; case studies; events notifications; and new product, service, and solution updates.

Results

“The ARInsights team understands my industry and is effective at managing the tactical aspects of my program, so I can concentrate my limited resources on delivering more strategic value to my leadership and my sales teams,” Arthur said.

With ARInsights, CompuCom has been able to:

  • Increase efficiency and productivity. Using ServicePlus for tactical reporting and tracking tasks frees CompuCom to focus on more value-added activities.
  • Discover and target nearly 50 additional global analysts who cover managed or digital workplace services — putting more customer-influencing analysts on CompuCom’s radar.
  • Enhance external communications. CompuCom has immediate visibility into analyst feedback and coverage of the company, along with mentions of managed workplace services across multiple channels, including social. The company can use the information to weave CompuCom into positive conversations that can influence sales, as well as support PR efforts.
  • Demonstrate the value of AR to internal executives. CompuCom keeps executives informed about the research trends and social media conversations in the managed workplace services market to influence partnerships and technology and business decisions that impact future growth.